


In the lion's den

by PurpleNightSong



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Assassins, Blood, Conflict, Death, F/M, Internal Conflict, Military Ranks, Romance, War, World War III
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-10-20
Packaged: 2018-08-23 13:58:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8330458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleNightSong/pseuds/PurpleNightSong
Summary: World war III has been raging the earth for several years now and one country calls in their specilaized group of assasins called 'Lionesses' led by their leader Alexi - to kill the enemy leader.Nikolai and his team is ordered to follow these women and help them in their mission. Both of the teams isn't satisfied with the orders they're given. Alexi don't trust Nikolai as it seems like he is hiding something, and Nikolai don't trust Alexi as she won't tell him anything other than things that has to do with the mission.But what will happen when they are on enemy land and there is no other they can trust? What is Alexi and the rest hiding in their backgrounds?Why did Nikolai enter the army in a foreign land?





	1. Proloug

**Author's Note:**

> This is a project that has been resting for several years. The first draft was so bad but the story was quite alright so I decied to re-write it. Bare with it - let it go a few chapters first. Everything seems to be a bit messy but it will become clear later on

  _The night was filled with screams and fire that cast its light shadows up into the skies. In the distance the voices of a thousand men was heard. Weapons that fired their bullets and mines that exploded when a soldier stepped on it. The smell of blood and mud stung the nose. The battlefield was filled with the liquid from dead bodies and people were dying. Nikolai stared out into the darkness and he felt for the first time a bit of fear in his stomach since he joined the forces of this Nordic land. He was a new recruit and just recently sent to the war and now he was here. He looked at his comrades that was lying beside him in the trench. Their helmets were stained but the blood of their fallen comrades and the mud that the explosions threw up in the air. Nikolai swallowed as he tried to keep control over his heartrate and the adrenaline pumping through his veins. This war had been going on for too long – cities were destroyed and both men and women had lost their lives on the frontier as the fought to hold the border. Brave soldiers had fought to defend their land and families – he had ran away from home to avoid his land and family. Now he was here._

_Suddenly they could hear a noise – sounding like a small metal object hitting the ground. Nikolai widened his light blue eyes when he realized what I was._

_“GRENADE!” Just before he had uttered those words he felt someone pull him back just before the explosion and pressed his body to the ground._

_“GET DOWN!” he could hear a woman yell right beside his ear. When the grenade erupted he could feel the dirt under his body rumble and a deafening sound was heard. Nikolai felt the soft body under the uniform and he could feel the woman’s small figure, but she had strength as she had forced him to the ground before the explosion – who was she? There hadn’t been any women in his trench and now there she was laying over him – protecting him._

_The rumbling stopped and Nikolai could feel the pressure leave him. Suddenly he could hear another voice._

_“Are you okay, general?” another woman said suddenly. Nikolai looked up and around himself and saw a group of women even though he could see their faces. A dark silhouette laid a hand on one of the taller women standing there. He could see a bit of hair, an almost black uniform. On one of the sleeves he could see a symbol; almost looking like a lion. The woman that had been laying on top of Nikolai – the woman that had raised her voice to tell everyone to get down – brushed away the other woman’s hand._

_“I’m okay” she said with a strong voice. Another woman took a step forward._

_“General, you’re bleeding” she said and the one that was called the general raised her hand to her face before she let it fall._

_“It’s just a scratch. It will heal eventually” she said. “Lionesses advance” and at that the women gathered around her vanished like shadows in the night. Just before the woman left Nikolai reached out his hand._

_“Wait!” The woman turned around and looked at the man as she studied him. “Who are you?” Just after his question a light from another explosion made everything visible for a moment. The sight that met his eyes made him shiver. The sharp eyes of the woman had the color of steel and right under her left eye she had deep cut that was bleeding and covering her face with blood. The explosion made everything to bright for him to see her hair color. It could have been covered with dirt and he wouldn’t have noticed. She pierced him with her sight to his place._

_“You don’t have to know who I am, soldier. Forget that you ever seen us” she said and vanished from his sight. Nikolai was laying there and looked around. Everybody else in the trench was dead – none had survived the explosion except from him._

_He was left alone._


	2. Mission one

She looked down on the order she held in her hand. A new mission. Someone new to kill – but this time with a twist. Now there would be a few new people following them and they weren’t trained assassins at all. They were privates second lieutenants, lieutenants followed by a captain. She sighed.  To have these people hanging around her and her team would be a huge risk and she was afraid they would compromise the mission. She looked at her squad – women with different qualities that made the group balanced. A sniper, a bomb technician, a former IT expert and a former agent from MI5. She looked at them. Natalya, Sirja, Jennie and Chris. Her sisters in arms and her squad and team. Her family. Natalya, the Russian beauty with her long black hair and fair skin, the long eyelashes and blue eyes turned to her. Her facial skin didn’t have any signs of scars at all.

“Something new A?” She nodded and sighed. As she sat down Sirja gave her a metal container with warm coffee. It warmed her hands in the cold wind. Even though they were in the middle of summer the cold wind had come to them early – as if the summer had evacuated to warmer climates.

“What’s new, Alexi?” Chris asked and watched the general from under her bangs in the front. The blond and short haired Chris was tall as a model but more build of a man. No shapes but more flat. She had that pretty round face though – except from a few minor scars from wounds she had gotten on different missions. Alexi watched Chris before she spoke. The color of her hair reminded her of wheat ready for harvest.

“We have a new mission” she stated.

“That’s great! When do we leave?” Alexi turned to the woman with a polish accent and a helmet over the cascades if white hair that often flowed around her like a new fallen snow. She was almost childlike even though she was 28 years of age. She had burn scars all over her arms and hands and those showed now when she sat there in the tank top and black military pants with her boots untied.

“Tie your boots – you’ll trip on those laces otherwise – and I suspect it won’t be that easy to leave this time” Alexi said and watched each of them in their eyes. They knew that something had annoyed their general when she looked at them like that – her eyes becoming cold as a Siberian winter.

Jennie – their medic – sighed and asked the general:

“What’s wrong?” Alexi turned her grey gaze towards the brunet with the stature of the one that once been a mother. Lushes lips and brown eyes – eyes that once had showed loved before she had lost her children to the war. The general scratched her neck and reached Chris the papers.

“These are our new orders from the government – plus a few new recruits” they all stood still.

“New recruits? But we always work alone – together with no one else!” Natalya stated and spit on the ground to the left over her – making the dog tags with her fake name in it move back and forth on her chest.

“A sniper, a medic, IT guy, a tactician and an intel specialist… Alexi, this sounds just like us” Chris stated and looked up from the papers. Alexi sate down on a crate that was standing outside the tent they were sharing.

“I know and I don’t like it” she said and rubbed her neck. She took a sip from the cup and let out a content sigh from the taste of the hot liquid.

“Sounds kind of fishy to me” her lieutenant said and looked down into the papers again.

“Tony, Marcus, Fao Ling, Angelica and Nikolai…” Natalya glanced over to Chris and studied her before the women with the Russian heritage just shook her shoulders.

“What does the government want us to do?” she asked. Alexi looked down to her scared hands. So many battles had left their marks on her body.

“They want us to go and kill the president of the enemy state and they claim that we need these guys to this” Alexi looked up to as she tied her hands into fists. This was outrageous, against their honor and their way of work. Hadn’t this team of women done what they were told to do? Hadn’t they succeeded in the majority of missions they been on?

“They don’t trust us?” Sirja asked and removed her knife from its sheathe as she started to pick her fingernails.

“I don’t think they do. They’re starting to build a new team – a more efficient one, or they are trying to replace me…” Alexi stated and smashed her fist into her knee.

“We would never listen to any other than you, general. We swore an oath after the first mission after we lost the others” Natalya said and gave her commander a soft look.

“Whatever happens – we follow you until death” Chris said.

“We share the same blood – we are sisters now” Jennie rose from her crate.

“If they try to strip you of your position then I will blow them up” Alexi gave each of them a sad but grateful smile.

“Thank you guys. I know I can trust you all” she said and emptied her cup before she spoke again. “Make everything ready – we’ll be leaving for the border at dawn.

“YES, GENERAL!”

* * *

Nikolai was looking at the new orders – he didn’t like them. He and his team was to follow this group of women over the border to assassinate the president of the enemy state plus the other objective they were supposed to see to. Nikolai rubbed his neck in annoyance as he wrinkled his orders from the general in his hand. His team was standing and waiting for him at the mess hall and he just nodded at them. The blond man that was about as high as his own ego watched their captain. Tony was their sniper and he always thought of him as the superior of everyone when it came to the shooting range. He was good – but he succeeded at every training with his sniper, a M110 Semi-Automatic, and there was no one that had beaten him yet. He was the best and he was a good comrade.

“Something troubling you, Nikolai?” he asked and shoved his hands into the pockets of his green military pants. Nikolai sighed heavily and looked at the man.

“You could say that” as he wrinkled out the paper in his hands and reached the paper to him. Tony took it and started to read.

“Mission… five women… We’re teaming up with a team of women?!” A ‘thud’ was heard as the blond woman with a braid hit Tony hard in the back of his head.

“Show some respect you misogynist ass. Women can fight as well as any other man” Angelica said and put her hands on her hips before she snatched the paper out of Tony’s hand – whom now was mumbling something under breath as he rubbed his already messy blond hair. Angelica started to read in silence before she stopped at a place and widened her eyes.

“Nikolai, these aren’t any regular women…”

“What do you mean?” Nikolai asked. He had read about their names but they didn’t ring any bells at all.

“They’re part of an assassination squad called Lionesses” Marcus, their IT expert, turned his head towards the woman and rubbed his unshaved cheek.

“The Lionesses, ey?” he said in wonder.

“Who are the Lionesses?” their captain asked again and looked to their former Chinese intel agent. His black hair was licked to his skull and he was shorter than any other of them but he had never cared about it. He was one of the best at martial arts and Nikolai had huge respect for his wisdom. Angelica just looked worried into the papers.

“I thought that they were just a rumor until recently. Just a few have seen them and many of them has died in battle. But it is said that they are a special trained assassin group – containing only women with discussable background. Then there is many other rumors that make them sound more like demons shooting lightning bolts through their asses” Angelica said and seemed a bit concerned. “The situation must be very bad if they send in them into this mission as well” Nikolai averted his gaze for a second. He had another objective with this mission but that he had to take with them at a later date – right now all they could do was wait.  Angelica gave the papers back and Nikolai looked down at the files that was attached to the order. Name on the women and very little about them. _Chris, Sirja, Jennie, Natalya and Alexi._ Nikolai was surprised to see that they didn’t have any last names but he concentrated a bit on the two last names – they were Russians. Nikolai shrugged off the unpleasant feeling he got by seeing these names.

“Well, there isn’t much we can do until they arrive – they would leave the southern parts of the land this morning so they should arrive at any given moment. Rest and relax until then” the group saluted their captain and went on different ways. Nikolai saw them scatter all over the camp so he decided to eat instead so he went into the mess hall. A few soldiers that had some time on their hand was scattered around the tables and talked or played some cards. Nikolai went to grab some coffee when he heard the sound of chopper in the distance. He quickly filled the metal container and went out of the tent. He could see the silhouette of a Black Hawk UH-60 at the horizon. The slick black metal body became larger as it approached and Nikolai had a bad feeling. Even though the Black Hawk probably contained the women he had information on in his hand – he couldn’t get rid of the feeling of worry inside of him.

* * *

 

Alexi stepped out of the chopper and tried to keep her beret at place on her head as the rotor blades was spinning above her head in a rapid spin – but it was soon slowing down. Natalya jumped out right behind her, dressed in their black uniforms. She had braided her long black hair so the braid was resting heavy on her back together with an elongated bag containing her sniper. Soon everyone in her group followed right behind her. Alexi looked around and spotted an old man standing there and she felt her heart froze to the ground. _Damien._ Alexi gritted her teeth but didn’t say anything. This was the last thing she needed. That smug bastard just looked at her with a huge grin on his face – a face that Alexi had learned to hate through the year. A sudden stinging pain at her stomach made itself present but she tried to ignore it. She stopped in front of him and saluted him but not with so much respect that maybe was needed.

“General Damien, general Alexi with the Lionesses reporting for duty” she said and the rest of the lionesses stopped and watched the scene that was happening. They knew about Damien and they knew about everything he had done – even though he had made so much bad in his early life he had reached a high rank in the military. The tall man saluted Alexi and eyed the woman from the bottom up with his green eyes. He had a shadow over his cheek that told them that he hadn’t shaved this morning and his strong built body told them that he was working out.

“General Alexi, it is nice to see you well and in good health” he said. Alexi just stared at him.

“I can’t say the same about you. Where is Captain Nikolai Sergei so we can discuss this upcoming mission and be on our way?” she said and started to look around. Damien just laughed a bit before took the words in his mouth again.

“I’ve taken the liberty to book one of the tents in this camp around 8 P.M tonight so you can meet up with him. Until then you and your team are welcome and stay here and find pleasure in whatever you find” he said and swooped his hand out to the camp. Alexi just gave the others a swift motion of his hand and they started to walk passed the general. When Alexi was about pass him Damien grabbed her arm. She turned around and gave him a glare without any kind of friendly emotion.

“I suggest that you let go of me now, general or else I will be standing in front of the military court” She said as her eyes became hard and cold like steel. Damien just smirked at her.

“You know that you’ll never get rid of me, Alexi. There will always be a part that reminds you of me. Either if it’s the thing you bear with you or the one you left back –“

“General Damien, if you so much as touch that subject I will personally see to your own demise and I will gladly burry your body where no one will ever find it. Now I say this once more; Let go of me, _general”_ they stared at each other before Damien let go of her arm. Alexi just turned around and walked away after her group. She never turned around to look at the man standing there.

* * *

Nikolai was standing and talking to Tony when they could hear whispers from around them. People saying things about women coming up the main road of the camp. Women wasn’t anything new – the new thing was _these_ women. Nikolai turned his head and saw how soldiers divided into two on each side of the road. He could see a group with women – four of them. Tony let out a whistle when he spotted the black haired one with a bag on her back.

“I wouldn’t have any problem doing _that”_ Nikolai rolled his eyes before he turned towards the women again. All well trained – moving swift and soundless. They could all be considered beauties in their own kind of way but Nikolai had never seemed interested in any women when he had a mission on their hand. Some of them had scars and one of them had a helmet on her head. They were completely dressed in black.

Suddenly Nikolai saw something red behind the four women that was walking and it caught his eyes. He watched and then locked eyes with a pair of hard and steel grey eyes. Her hair was red almost like copper and it curled its way down her neck and back – a beret tried to keep it down on her head. She had a round but mature face with a pair of full lips, and a long and gracious neck. But what caught Nikolai’s eyes were the scar right under her left eye. It must’ve been a deep cut because of the lighter scar tissue. The women didn’t pay any further attention to him so she turned to the blond short haired woman standing in front of her. It was then he saw it – a green piece of fabric with four green stars on a slightly darker background on her shoulders and on her right arm was a golden symbol of a lion embroidered. The general of the Lionesses. He had seen that symbol before – a few years back when had just been a private. It was her – it was the same person that had pushed him down and saved him from the grenade. She looked strong and she had an aura of respect around her. The women around her listened carefully to what she had to say to them and Nikolai continued to study the group and their general. All he had was a first name; Alexi. A Russian name and he could see some Russian resemblance in her features. A sharp nose and eyes. The thin and tall body – the way she moved. She turned her eyes towards him again.

“Do you find something disturbing with my face, soldier?” she suddenly asked and Nikolai met her eyes steady. Without hesitation he answered her.

“No, general” he said.

“Then can you please stop stare at me like that? Or are you may be trying to imprint my face to your memory?” she said with a taunting voice. Nikolai continued to meet her gaze steady. Even though she had a higher rank than him – he wasn’t afraid of her. Hell, he wasn’t even afraid of the General Damien.

“I suggest that you do as she tells you, boy” the long blond woman told him and gave him a smirk. She seemed friendly enough though. Nikolai raised his brows and tried to figure out what he wanted to say.

“Sure, I’m looking at you – but can you blame me for it?” He asked. The red head Alexi watched him with something that resembled boredom. “With that scar in your face and the group of women you’re coming with – you could almost believe that you’re with the Lionesses” He said. Everyone became quite. Nikolai had said the forbidden words – no one dared to confront the women with the obvious evidence that they were the Lionesses. The women stared at him before she let out a chuckle from her chest.

“I am Anna Alexia Väälinen Romanov. General of the national group of women called the Lionesses, yes” she said and everyone around the let out a breath. They had been afraid. “Identify yourself soldier” she demanded and Nikolai took the stance and saluted the general.

“Captain Nikolai Sergei, m’am” Her eyes suddenly became sharp and Nikolai could feel the gaze as a knives edge on his skin. He shuddered under it, but he never showed it.

“So we meet already, captain. I didn’t think that I would get the chance to meet you until tonight” she said and then turned around again towards the women in her group. “Find something to do until I call you back. I have some business to take care of” The lionesses looked at their general and then they just nodded. The one with black hair just threw a glance at Tony before she turned away and walked towards the shooting range. Alexi turned her face again towards Nikolai, not paying any attention Tony at all.

“A word with you captain” she said and walked away. Nikolai gave Tony a glance that said that he was to stay put and not to follow him.

“Yes, m’am?” He said when he was standing in front of her – she was smaller than him and he could look down at her small figure. Her eyes were cold and hard.

“Who ordered you to go on this mission?” she asked. He swallowed.

“General Damien, m’am” she sighed and started to massage her templets as she closed her eyes. It looked like something was annoying her.

“To tell you the truth, captain. I’m not used to have any other solders with me than the women that surrounds me constantly. They know me and my actions – many times I don’t even have to give an order before they carry it out. If you and your group can’t keep up or follow I will send you back with or without the permission of you general” she said. Nikolai felt how he started to boil inside. What did she imply?

“I can promise you, _general,_ that me and my group won’t be a burden to you or the mission we are to carry out” he said and let some of his anger slip through. Alexi just gave him a smirk.

“Keep your anger to yourself, captain. You’ll need it in enemy land” She said. “We will talk more about the mission later tonight. I expect that you and your group will be ready early tomorrow morning”

“Yes, ma’m” She turned around and started to walk away. Nikolai just looked after her and felt how the anger inside of him increased. What was her problem?


End file.
